MLB Playoff Picture 2023: Astros' Playoff Hopes Hinge on Rangers Ousting Mariners
The single most delicious storyline in the waning days of the MLB Playoff hunt is that of the AL West, where the Texas Rangers hold a two-game lead over defending World Series Champions, the Houston Astros and the very fate of baseball's most controversial team in its hands.
The Astros are in the fight of their playoff lives, just one game ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card standings while still playing for a division win. The AL West lead currently belongs to the Texas Rangers, who have yet to clinch a playoff spot, regardless of if they win the division crown.
Houston is currently in the midst of a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, themselves fighting for a spot in the National League Wild Card.
A single loss, and continued upward momentum from the Mariners, would bring Seattle and the defending champions to a virtual tie with two games to play.
They got some help from the Mariners Thursday in the form of a ninth-inning, walk-off double off of closer Aroldis Chapman from JP Crawford that earned Seattle a 3-2 victory over the Rangers.
The Astros, the closest thing baseball has to a modern dynasty, must then rely on the very team they hope to jump for the division crown to deliver them a playoff spot and eliminate a Mariners team neither they, nor anyone on the AL side of things, wants to see get hot in time for the postseason.
The Rangers win the division by taking two of the next three against the Mariners. The Astros need to win all three of their remaining games to clinch and hope Seattle loses along the way as the Mariners hold the wild card advantage.
According to FanGraphs, the Mariners have the slimmest chances of ultimately cashing their ticket to the postseason at 33.
Still, Seattle has a chance and in the unpredictable season that 2023 has been to this point, that is all they need to go on a dynamic, hard-hitting run in an American League that, despite the record of the underdog Baltimore Orioles, still feels like it is anyone's to win.
